music (library)

i'm a picky snob. When i want to check out an artist, I tend to download whole albums, file them into the library neatly, only to listen in a wee little and then forget about it - filling the iPod with music i know i'll like instead of new stuff. that way, i've accumulated around 80GB of music, of which i have really listened only to a small percentage.

Way too often i'll browse the music and be like "oh, why not listen to [overplayed fav artist], again…" where the journey then ends.

It's most awkward when a friend finds something they like in the lib and i don't even know the artist. Then they'll hit play and it's nice musics, why didn't i listen to this earlier? Then they leave and it's never played again.

So i'm trying to be open towards stuff, but effectively having very confined, specific tastes apparently…

but i think it's mostly a technical problem. It's not that i can't appreciate unfamiliar music, it's simply the 80 GB library + iTunes + iPod doesn't help. It was much easier back in the CD days where i ordered a couple of obscure albums per month and was all over them when they arrived…

is it just too easy nowadays? maybe it's time for a system? To pull a Bill Drummond and only listen to artists that start with letter [n] for a year?

or delete everything..?

how do you explore the musics?

Shuffle.

oh gosh, why didn't i think of that earlier? fucking shuffle!

862 hours of music and all I listen to is Geogaddi

I'm a completist. I have about 200 artists I listen to, but that's more than 2000 albums in the end. I tend to get complete discographies. That's why I wish for a centralised streaming future of listening to music. It makes sense. No more thinking about deleting folders or whatever. No more downloading albums for no reason.

music (forum)

post in it?

Ok so seriously, I have problems with having stuff on my computer that I'm not really familiar with, and for the most part I think it's definitely attributable to music acquisition being too easy nowadays. As you said, back in the day you/we'd get a few CDs/tapes/records here and there and generally take the time to enjoy them, let them soak in, etc. Nowadays, you hear of a band/album and you tend to immediately download it, whether you plan to listen to it right away or not. I do this. It does suck because we are overwhelming ourselves. We might stick with what we know when selecting something to put on, because you might be in the mood to hear a certain something. But really there's nothing wrong with that...listening to what you know you enjoy. I think you only feel like there's something wrong with that because you've hoarded other music that you are neglecting.

Here are some things I do that may be of help.

- In my digital library, I've created a playlist where I keep stuff I haven't yet played, or have only played once or twice. I call it my backlog.

- In my rateyourmusic.com profile, where I keep track of CDs and MP3s I have, I keep a tally of how many times I've played an album, up to 3 times. After that I just clear it. This can serve as a reminder that I haven't familiarized myself with the album yet.

- I also refrain from rating albums on rateyourmusic.com until I've listened to it 3 times or more.

Since I "bump" albums in my RYM profile as I listen to them, I'm always on the site and not allowing myself to rate things too early has helped me to increase the number of times I listen to an album within a certain amount of time. Rather than playing a new download once and forgetting about it, it gets marked with a 1, and not rated, so it leaves me curious. What do I really think of this album? I want to get to know it better.

My backlog is still ever-expanding though, but I do think that with the things I mentioned, it's really helped me to not dismiss/forget albums as quickly.

i'm feeling like i'm too crazed over checking out new stuff than being happy with what i have. lol

it cracks me up how methodical some of the board's listening and filing practices are. i'd love to see how thorough your mp3 tags are, or whether you've arranged all your physical releases autobiographically. my library is over 47,000 tracks deep. it's an endless source of magic and mystery.

we're the idm version of High Fidelity's Rob Fleming

im still in process of organizing my music "archive", but lately with school work and general laziness i havent finished it yet.

if i dl something, i make a point to at least listen to one or two tracks, otherwise whats the point?

lately i pretty much download hard to find stuff or really hard to get drone musics.

I run a tight ship: if i like it, it goes in my music library, if i dont, it goes. i keep good tracks from albums not worth keeping. albums that i really dig i buy CD straight away, unless it's unavailable for whatever reason and then i'll usually hunt for a flac version from the label or music shop.

i realised not too long ago that i delete probably 95%+ of what i download.

  On 3/18/2010 at 9:58 PM, Smuckers said:

I run a tight ship: if i like it, it goes in my music library, if i dont, it goes. i keep good tracks from albums not worth keeping. albums that i really dig i buy CD straight away, unless it's unavailable for whatever reason and then i'll usually hunt for a flac version from the label or music shop.

 

i realised not too long ago that i delete probably 95%+ of what i download.

i used to do your first thing, but then i realized regardless, i might want to listen to the whole album in context in the future.

what i need to do is sell all my cds on ebay and then put that money towards more external drive space and some records.

Unless you have some cooler obscurer CD's, good luck.

im pretty sure i could sell the majority of them for a buck each. I never said i was looking to get rich.

If they are only worth a buck each, then you're in a saturated market. Sells come slow. (I'm talking from experience of trying to sell my high school CD collection)

i don't disagree with you. thanks for the warnings, i guess?

i feel like you are trying to corner the cd sell market, cuttin me out of the deal eh...

do you use discogs or ebay more?

im thinking of going the discogs route.

I always intended to hang on to my CD collection. After selling a hundred or so during college, and later regretting it, I've decided only to get rid of stuff I really hate, if at all. I did some trading a while back. I just figure it's something I can share with my kids later in life, if I ever have any. Even though they'll only know digital downloads (or streaming or whatever is next), it might be cool for them to look at and go woah, artifacts. I dunno. The collection just means a lot to me, it's my pride and joy. Or it was for a long time, anyway.

i go through assloads of albums each week. i listen to them all, and the albums i like i put in a playlist so i don't forget. then i listen to that playlist when i have nothing new to listen to. i can go through lots of albums and still get into those favorite of the season albums

  On 3/18/2010 at 8:53 PM, ms-dos said:

it cracks me up how methodical some of the board's listening and filing practices are. i'd love to see how thorough your mp3 tags are, or whether you've arranged all your physical releases autobiographically. my library is over 47,000 tracks deep. it's an endless source of magic and mystery.

i always make sure to get release year. i order them that way when i select an artist. it's much easier for me to find it, having it mapped out in my head

I have a very lean music-listening style where I download a few albums and simply put each one into my normal rotation.